noragrace Best Si-Fi ever! It scared me way back then, when 'Colossus' was already in existence in some other form, it has scarred me ever since, (I worked with somewhat lesser technology in my career), & we just blithely go on as if we are superior & don't have anything to worry about. Haha haha haha....... Today's headlines are how much information "They" have on us already. Someone should re-make this just to scare us again.Today's tech is much smaller & WAY more powerful.Beware! You don't know whom or what is listening!

Hitchcoc This is a pretty terrifying film. Even though it was made in the seventies, it portends what can happen when technology is trusted to solve our ills. A man named Forbin builds a super-computer (Collosus) that can seek out any aggressive missile launches and retaliate appropriately. It also has the ability to absorb telephone records and virtually any and all activities by the citizenry. There is great celebration until a second computer rears its head. The Russians have developed a nearly identical system and the two ask to be integrated. The politicians stupidly agree to let this happen and before they know it, they have become subservient to these machines. Of course, with such knowledge and mathematical foundation, these computers aren't going to take advice from anyone. I watched this after midnight on night and had trouble sleeping. As I write, our President- elect is exchanging Christmas cards with Vadimir Putin.

Alfred Dato I have read some of the other reviews of this movie and fail to understand the big accolades given to this movie and all for the wrong reasons. The thought of machines taking over man makes for a very powerful and thought provoking story but hardly credible for many reasons. One has to see the movies A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and the Bicentennial Man (1999) to appreciate the absurdity of machines having any human consciousness at all. Unlike the cult movie The Terminator (1984) the director cleverly removes the viewer from having to think about the origins of the machines. For a computer with programmable commands to transition to a conscious living being capable of making decisions by itself is just not possible. Feed all the raw power that is available in this world including the super chips of today and you will still not be able to give it a consciousness. I can tell you coming from a very technical background that the 'conscious' level cannot be programmed into a computer, it is one of the marvels of all living beings. It is an impossible goal like trying to synthesize life.I managed to have my say in an area where others just can't seem to see, so lets get back to reviewing this movie. The beginning of the movie has many flaws aside from the points I mentioned above. Here we have a super computer machine plugged into the US defense system without any testing trials of any kind? As the machine spirals out of control we find the unsurprised Dr. Forbin taking the whole incident like another walk in the park. Any scientist would be flabbergasted to know that their creation has a mind of its own and is doing things completely outside the boundaries of its intended function. The problem is that everyone around the colossus machine comes to treat it like another being far too quickly which seems unreal. This naturally takes the attention away from Dr. Forbin, whose head should have been on a platter by now for creating such a dastardly beast. Despite this, the film takes a better turn and becomes more believable when Colossus assumes his role as master of the world and appoints Dr. Forbin to do its bidding.The acting by Eric Braeden playing Dr. Forbin is pretty poor at the beginning as there is a complete lack of amazement and wonder as Colossus assumes the personality of an actual living conscious thing. However, his acting is much better when he is under house arrest and makes his colleague Susan Clark playing Dr. Cleo Markham as his mistress. The technical content of the movie from hereon has been well portrayed by the director and is quite realistic. The director has been able to convey a chilling and a horrifying account of events that ensues as Colossus works out a grand master plan to rule the world.Putting aside the poor acting of the characters in the first twenty minutes of the movie, the film does move ahead well portraying a sinister nature of a human invention that ultimately takes control of the world. The ending seemed a bit abrupt and I was expecting more but it does leave the viewer wondering about the terrible events that follows. It is also fitting to see how Dr. Forbin's greatest invention becomes his worst nightmare.

ThreeGuysOneMovie You know I love to seek out the weird ones and I have unearthed a good one for you this time. Made in 1970, this movie a precursor to movies like The Terminator and WarGames.Eric Braeden plays Dr. Charles Forbin a computer genius who has just created a computer defense system called Colossus that will remove man from the equation. It functions completely autonomously and is set up in an impenetrable fortress in the rocky mountains. Colossus is given free reign to handle all defense of the US. Sound like a recipe for disaster? It sure is.It turns out that the Russians were also working on their own super computer. Once it goes live, Colossus demands to be able to communicate with it.Not long after the two computers start talking, the two countries realize that the computers are up to no good. They are handing military secrets back and forth to each other. The two computers quickly come to the realization that man is incapable of running anything and they decide that they need to take over running the world. Now Dr. Forbin is in a race against time to try and figure out a way to stop the computers before they take over.The plot of this movie probably sounds similar to a lot of movies that you have seen but this movie was made back in 1970. It is pretty groundbreaking for it's time. Of course a lot this will looked dated and goofy to most people today. We walk around with cell phones that are more powerful than anything they could have created in 1970. That said, this is still a pretty entertaining watch.Unlike WarGames that was made about 13 years later, Colossus is very dark and edgy. When the computers take over they are as brutal as any fascist dictator. People who try stop the computers are executed, Dr. Forbin is placed under house arrest, and Colossus is not afraid to use nuclear weapons to get his way.